the day i went crazy and painted my piano.

It's been about 2 months now since we moved back to Utah from California.

When the husband and I were discussing moving back, we decided I should start up teaching piano lessons again.

I wanted to do something fun and different with my piano so I starting googling around and finding some AMAZING inspiration!  (see above!!)  I was literally floored! I had no idea people actually painted their pianos.  But as soon as I started seeing some of the pictures, I KNEW I was going to jump on the band wagon of crazies and paint mine, too.

So, as soon as we moved back, paining my piano was at the top of my to do list.  I wanted it to be all ready before I started teaching lessons.  Being just another boring old piano teacher with a boring old piano?  Nope.  Ain't nobody got time for that.

Luckily my mother was willing to help me, and didn't even try to talk me out of it.  How great is she?  She came to my house for an afternoon while Jack was at Kindergarten and we got to work.  

I documented with a few pictures along the way....

I really could not be happier with the finished product.  I have loved my blue piano!  

Here are a few notes (in case anyone who actually reads this is crazy enough to think about doing it):

*First I just want to say that I got this piano from my aunt a couple years ago for free.  OBVIOUSLY This is not something I would recommend doing on a brand new piano (duh).

*We lightly sanded the wood all over and then wiped it all clean with a baby wipe before starting.

*We used painters tape and a piece of thick black plastic to tape off and cover the keys.  We also taped off the pedals and any hinges.  We found that using an Exacto knife was really helpful on all those tricky edges.

*We used used both a roller and a brush.  And I actually used my tiny makeup brush (those thin slanted eye brow brushes) for directly behind the keys.  It worked great!  I washed it out as soon as I was done and it was good as new :)

*I bought the paint from Lowe's and it was Valspar's "Crystal Aqua" with a soft gloss finish.  It also had primer in it so I didn't have to prime first.  And I only had to buy one quart!  17 bucks for a whole new piano is pretty dang good!  There is just enough left for touch ups throughout the years.

*Be careful not to paint anything shut!  Sounds obvious, I know, but I had my piano tuned afterward, and there are parts of the piano that I didn't know have to be removed for a tuning!  (like a couple of the front panels) And, well…they were kinda painted shut.  Yeah, that was a little embarrassing....Luckily he was able to still get off what he needed to.  But, lets just say it's a good thing I had that left over touch-up paint because there were definitely some scratches after he was done prying my piano open.  Oops.

Anyway, all in all, I am so pleased with the result.  And even more pleased to have this crossed off my to-do list!  I think Nora is pretty pleased, too.  My blue piano makes for a perfect foot rest :)